Local News Stories and LTE 2018

Why aren’t there any sharrows painted on the bus/bike lanes north of 3rd Ave.? The signs still say “Buses only” Due to the lack of sharrows north of 3rd Ave., I went over to Smithfield St. to continue north. On the plus side, the 3rd Ave. bike lane is in the video.

If it ever gets done, I will be very surprised. Frankly I’m surprised it was agreed to at all.

TBQH, it would be better if sharrows are not put down. This does not have the support of bus drivers, and to put down sharrows would not play well. This sort of thing truly gums up labor-management discussions when such things need not have any gum added.

It may appear to be background noise, but please take unilateral decisions by Port Authority management seriously. I’m already seeing ruffled feathers from bus drivers I consider to be among the more level headed. This may appear to be good for us, but there is a downside to it, too, and it’s invisible.

It’s not about sharrows, it’s about sharing space they did not used to have to (legally).

Local police radar/laser bill is going to die. PA legislature term expires 11-30-18 and all bills die at that time. No votes scheduled between now and then. PA legislature has adjourned. There may be a special sessions for a vote on a bill related to Catholic church abuse, but they certainly won’t take up unrelated business at that vote.

The main sponsor of the bill, who is my PA Senator, lost the primary, so he won’t be back to submit the bill in the next session.

Tariffs on bicycles made in china will increase to 25% on January 1st. This will affect the cheaper end of the market more than the more expensive bikes. It may be hard to get people on bikes when the cheapest ones are more expensive or non-existent.

On June 30, Ellis used her personal Facebook account to comment on a news article about reckless driving charges filed against Bell Acres Councilman Gregory C. Wagner for driving his car through a group of social justice activists whose protest shut down streets in the North Shore.

Still no speed camera law in PA, but I *think* Wolf signed a bill in October meaning that work zones on highways will have speed cameras. And although Pittsburgh can use red light cameras, I think the law is so narrowly written/there’s such backlash that I think they’re only used out in Philly. I know when red light camera laws were more in vogue a lot of cities rolled them out and then over the years have decreased their usage due to citizen anger. I guess the 2 issues are — money maker for the city and money maker for private companies.

My wife got zapped by a speed camera in DC about 15 years ago. We got a postcard in the mail with a cool picture of the rear end of her car. Given that the camera wasn’t completely horizontal the picture looks like it was taken by a 5 year old. I paid the fine. No points on the license for her.

I just looked up Ohio, where I’m going today. I remember there being red light cameras on the east side of the city, near Shaker. Like along Lee Road leading from 480 into Shaker. It seems that Ohio changed the law that they can only be used “when an officer is present.” So they’re all gone.

Speed Cameras
No state law or programs

Red Light Cameras
Violation/State Law
Limited

Permitted Locations/Criteria
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and municipalities with a population greater than 20,000 and a police department accredited by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties; requires local ordinance

Honestly with the Trib they love publishing these LTEs apropos of nothing because it is click bait for their rabid audience of 50+ year old men. It generates lots of comments underneath which then helps improve their audience #s as their main source of revenue now is ad revenue from their website. It’s cheaper than having a reporter write an article (which they publish to the website without any copy editing…)

I think ignoring is probably the best thing to do. Any defending of bike lanes in the comment section just leads to non-productive name calling like “libtard” and “snowflake” and drives up the click count for the Trib and reaffirms their decision to publish click bait.

The irony is that I bet that the author rarely if ever attends events in Oakland or Downtown.

I was going to post this response, but cannot get my iPad to talk to the Facebook plugin.

Cars are great tools for transpoting people and things some distance, but once at that destination, become more liability than asset. Suburbanites have difficulty accepting this, as the comments here show. No, you cannot expect to park close for free in a busy area. Lose that idea, and accept instead that you have to drop grandma at the corner then pay to park in a garage three blocks away. Cyclists, meanwhile, are doing you a favor by freeing up a parking space somewhere for you. Yes we can carry groceries and packages on our bikes. And anyplace you don’t see a bike lane, you can expect to follow a bike at bike speed, without complaint.

Oi . This message system sucks .I cut and paste the link into my message (on the text tab) and in chrome I can see a preview of the link but can’t click it . How I miss the old version of the message board. :(

PG letter to the editor anticipates crowds attending “Hamilton” in January, and recommends: “It would be a nice gesture on the part of the Pittsburgh Public Works Department to temporarily remove the bicycle lanes along Penn and Sixth avenues to allow theatergoers easier access when entering and exiting parking lots and garages.”

Amazingly I’ve been too many other sold out shows at the benedum in the last few years and I’ve never had to stand in the bike lane to get on . I also went to a show w their new security measures 2 weeks ago and it took 20 extra seconds to get in the door. Security is much faster than 75 year old volunteer ushers trying to scan your ticket with an Android device.

Man, I thought the guy that wrote that LTE would have been from Murrysville or Cranberry, but instead he’s from Squirrel Hill! Seriously, a 61ABCD, 67 or 69 probably go by close enough to where he lives, and drops him and whoever goes with him within a block or two of the theater. This is without mentioning that if he’s over 65, he can ride the bus for free.

My guess is that he’s one of those people I see standing in line for 15-20 minutes to get on the elevator at the Sixth and Penn garage after a show (so they can then spend 15-20 minutes to drive out of the garage), which I always think it’s both funny and sad.

What’s even better is that while people are waiting in the lobby at Sixth and Penn other people walk upstairs to the 2nd floor and monopolize the elevators, keeping the lobby people waiting even longer.

If you’re going to drive downtown for a show, the solution is to park at the Grant Street garage and walk over. It’s $5 after hours and only about 4 blocks to the action. plus 0 traffic getting there or home. And sometimes you can find free parking on Penn on the same block. we do it all the time.

P.s. I’ve been going to the Benedum before the penn avenue bike lane and it was just as crowded peds and auto traffic wise before the bike lane due to people demanding to be picked up and dropped off right in front of the theater. I can see this being important for people with mobility issues, but I typically see people without mobility issues wanting curb service while the driver then searches for parking.